MR Gibbons is just one of a host of new figures on the education scene this term. Australian Dr Ken Boston takes over as chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and is joined by Linda O’Sullivan as its new head of assessment.
John Beattie this week became the first teacher at the helm of England’s General Teaching Council. Mr Beattie, assistant principal of Exmouth Community College, Devon, will have to convince teachers of the GTC’s worth, two years after its foundation.
Bill Cockburn, the new chairman of the School Teachers’ Review Body, will produce his first recommendations to government on teachers’ pay in January.
Mr Cockburn, a top businessman, has been asked by ministers to recommend the first three-year pay deal for teachers, to take them up to 2006.
Phillip Hunter, visiting professor of education at Keele University, takes over this month from Sir Peter Newsam as chief schools adjudicator.
